Lyra Redfield has been pushed around ever since she cut ties with the famous Anthony Stark. When fate happens to bring them together again, she realizes just how little her life meant to her. She wanted to make a difference-be better and do better...
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EVERYONE froze as her voice flowed through the alley. This was not good at all, and they all knew this could end horrible if one wrong thing was said. They all turned slowly with wide eyes as Lyra Redfield from 2012 stood there with a frown on her face.
"L-Lyra," Tony breathed, gulping. His hands began to shake as he placed them in his pockets.
"I thought I was going crazy. I knew I saw you dressed as a guard," Lyra said with a chuckle before she smirked.
"Is that what I did?"
Lyra walked forward, eyes looking around at the group. "You're not from this time are you? Future, I'm guessing. Got a little grey," she said with a light smile, pointing to Tony's hair. "Totally suits you, of course."
Steve squeezed his eyes shut. "This isn't good."
"Hi! I'm Scott. You'll meet me in a few years," Scott greeted.
Tony smacked his arm. "Shut up, idiot." He turned back to see Lyra standing right in front of him. He gulped again as they were face-to-face. "Y-Yeah. Future."
"Did I come along?" she joked.
No one answered.
"You should go back before he—before I get worried," Tony said, smiling crookedly at the oddity of the situation. "I don't want me to get mad if you just disappear."
Lyra looked around, ignoring his worries. "Well, obviously you came back for the Tesseract and the scepter. I get it. Loki got the Tesseract, so now, you need to go back again," Lyra said, nodding.
Tony smiled. "You always were smarter than me, Ly. I'll have to give you that."
Suddenly, Pietro stood next to Tony with tears in his eyes. Lyra's eyes widened at the speed he possessed. "Can I..." he coughed awkwardly.
Lyra frowned as he looked at Tony brokenly for help. She smiled the same tender smile she gave all of her children and pulled him in for a hug as if she knew him for years. "Future's not so great, kid?" she whispered to the boy she did not know.
He shook his head as he held her tightly. He backed away after a moment. "Sorry," he mumbled, wiping his eyes.
"Don't be," she whispered back before looking at Steve. "Are there any other options with the Tesseract?" Steve would not meet her eyes.
"No, no, no. There's no other options. There's no do-overs. We're not going anywhere else. We have one Pym particle left. Each. That's it, all right? We use that–Bye, bye. We're not going home," Scott suddenly blurted.
"Yeah, well if we don't try, then no one else is going home, either," Steve said, and Lyra furrowed her brows but did not comment on that.
"Pym? As in Hank Pym?" Lyra said, getting nods from all of them. She thought for a moment before snapping her fingers. "Didn't your dad work with Hank Pym, Tone, in the seventies? Your dad was the one who found the Tesseract in the ocean, right?"
Tony's eyes widened. "Holy shit, Lyra," he said before looking at Steve. "I got it. There's another way. To retake the Tesseract and acquire new particles. We'll stroll down memory lane. Military installation, Garden State."
"When were they both there?" Steve asked, eyes finally shifting up.
"They were there at a–I've a vaguely exact idea," Tony responded.
"How vague?"
"What are you talking about? Where are we going?" Scott asked.
"I know for a fact they were there–" Tony said, grinning at Lyra as if she was from their time and helping out on the mission. As if five years did not pass.
"Who's they? What are we doing?" Scott asked again.
"And I know how I know," Tony finished.
"Guys, what's up? What is it?" Scott tried.
"Well, it looks like you're improvising," Lyra commented with a smirk.
"Right. What are we improvising?" Scott tried to get clicked in.
Tony turned to him with the scepter. "Scott, you and Pietro get this back to the compound." Pietro nodded and grabbed the scepter as his eyes stayed on Lyra. "Suit up," Tony said to Steve.
Lyra smiled at Tony. "You always have a plan, don't you?"
Tony looked at her. "Not without you giving me important details. That's how we work."
Lyra smiled before her phone rang. She looked down. "It's you," she said with a chuckle before looking up at them. She turned to Steve to catch his eyes. "Whatever happened... I know you guys. You're blaming yourself. Just know you're going to fix this and save the fucking world."
"Bad language word," Tony blurted, and Steve and Pietro laughed.
Lyra smiled even though she did not get the joke yet, reaching her hand to touch Tony's face as if she knew he needed it. He leaned toward her hand as his eyes fell shut. "Whatever happens, I know you'll do the right thing."
"I love you," Tony said, remembering he never got to say it on Titan. His eyes opened in fear. "I know it's weird because I'm him and he's up there and he is me, but—"
She kissed his cheek. "Don't make it weird, Tony. I love you, too," she said with a laugh as she backed away. "Don't look so glum, Steve. You're the most optimistic person I know, what the hell happened?"
Steve laughed as she hugged him, his eyes finding Tony's in bemusement.
"Pietro, right?" Pietro nodded as she hugged him again. "Stay safe. Listen to Tony and Steve." She even hugged Scott. "You too."
The Avengers watched the past Lyra raise her phone to her ear as she said, "Sorry, honey. I was helping some civilians down below. I'm coming to lunch right now. Shawarma, right? Where is this place at again? No, don't track me. Just give me directions—Clint does not need to come and find me. Neither does Steve! I'm capable of handling myself. Tony Stark, if you—"
Tony rose his hand to where she kissed his cheek with a sad smile. "She's helping us still. I missed her so much."
"She always was the best," Steve said before watching Tony type something on his GPS.
Scott noticed it. "What's in New Jersey?"
"0-4," Tony started. "Uhh, 0-7."
"Excuse me—" Scott butted in.
"1-9-7-0."
"Are you sure?" Steve asked as he repeated the numbers aloud to Tony.
"Cap. Captain. Steve, sorry, America. Rogers. Look, if you do this, and this doesn't work, you're not coming back," Scott said.
"Be careful," Pietro called, knowing they were going no matter what.
"Thanks for the pep talk, pissant," he said to Scott before nodding at Pietro. He then turned to Steve. "Do you trust me?"
